Lead Academic Program Manager (Graduate Educator Programs)

Western Governors University•Salt Lake City, UT

1d•Onsite

About The Position

This role is for a Lead Academic Program Manager of academic programs in Graduate Educator Programs. The individual will be the overall end-to-end owner of the program throughout its entire lifecycle. This includes pre-definition research (market-segment selection, targeted skills, market demand for graduates, student demand, competitive analysis, portfolio strategy, pricing, program requirements, and program level P&L), building and launching the program by working with academic program directors and subject matter experts to define the curriculum and working with the program development team to build and launch the program (with the right quality, on-time and in budget), and tracking the post-launch adoption of the program by working with marketing and partnership teams to drive adoption with students, monitoring and tracking student success within the program, working with stakeholders to make ongoing adjustments to the program to improve student success and market relevance, and managing the program-level P&L. Success will be measured in terms of planning, building, delivering, and scaling the right programs profitably that cater to an underserved student population with a high level of retention and ROI for the students. The position reports to the Associate Dean and Academic Program Director and/or the Vice President, Dean of the department.

Requirements

Master's degree in education or a related area from an accredited institution.
4+ years of related experience to include a combination of: program P&L responsibility, able to effectively plan and operate degree-granting educational programs with the goal of driving student outcomes, student satisfaction, and profitability.
In lieu of a master’s degree, a bachelor's degree + 7 years relevant experience may be considered if candidates possess the necessary skills and knowledge required for the position.
Deep understanding of how students learn and combining innovative curriculum and student support strategies to drive student success.
Customer or student obsession with a focus on driving successful outcomes for them.
Industry or academic leader in the discipline.
Understanding of the industry trends, job opportunities, local student needs, and educational market trends in the discipline.
Credible voice of the department in external partnerships and presentation opportunities.
Strong people leader to directly or indirectly lead a diverse team of 25+ people including other academic program and department leaders, instructional faculty, and student coaches/mentors.
Execution focus with the ability to dive-deep and live in the details with a fast-paced weekly execution cadence.
Ability to organize and coordinate activities and results across cross-functional teams.
Ability to coach and develop direct reports.
Ability to collaborate with and lead teams, including those in a remote environment, while demonstrating excellence, integrity, and respect.
Ability to work effectively in a highly matrixed organization.
Ability to build relationships and influence at all levels, both internally and externally.
Ability to be an agent of change in a rapidly changing environment.
Proven ability to analyze data to identify trends and drive innovation.
Sound judgment and decision-making skills.
Strong oral and written communication skills.
Responsible for implementing initiatives and projects established by university or department leadership; establishes strategic and operational plans for department, function, or office with short-term impact on results.
May deliver input into new processes, standards, or plans that impact overall university or department results.
Leverages a systems-thinking approach for improving existing processes and systems within the department using significant conceptualizing, reasoning, and interpretation.
Problems and issues faced are numerous, difficult, and require detailed information gathering and analysis.
Typically affect multiple areas or specialties.
Problems and issues span a wide range of challenging and unique situations.
Collaborates cross-functionally with parties within and outside of the department and may occasionally communicate with external parties.
May influence others to accept the job area’s views, practices, concepts, and approaches and conduct briefings with leaders within the University or department.
Responsible for providing guidance, coaching, and training to other employees in the department, Function, or Office.
Provides direction to project team members, including feedback on performance.
Demonstrates the WGU leadership principles in all aspects of service to students, employees, and partners of WGU.

Nice To Haves

Doctorate degree in education or a relevant area from an accredited institution.
Experience in higher education.
Experience in developing online education programs and/or developing and scaling rapidly changing organizations/programs.
Experience in developing curriculum and/or high-stakes assessments.
Demonstrated success in change management, and bringing order and structure to complex situations.

Responsibilities

Overall end-to-end ownership of Graduate Educator Programs through their entire lifecycle.
Conduct pre-definition research including market-segment selection, targeted skills, market demand, student demand, competitive analysis, portfolio strategy, pricing, program requirements, and program level P&L.
Build and launch programs by defining curriculum with academic program directors and subject matter experts.
Work with the program development team to build and launch programs with quality, on time, and within budget.
Track post-launch adoption by working with marketing and partnership teams.
Drive program adoption with students.
Monitor and track student success within the program.
Make ongoing adjustments to the program to improve student success and market relevance.
Manage the program-level P&L.
P&L ownership experience with managing over Graduate Educator Programs.
Drive a culture of continuous experimentation, measurement, and learning from data to rapidly improve quality and delivery to students.
Strong people leadership to indirectly lead a diverse team of 25+ people including academic program leaders, instructional faculty, and student coaches/mentors.
Influence others and communicate effectively to improve teamwork, decision making, and problem solving.
Listen and respond effectively to reactions and positions of others and encourage diverse ideas and opinions.
Adjust message and style to fit the audience.
Provide timely and helpful feedback.
Communicate appropriately to win support with all audiences.
Collaborate with others across the organization to achieve shared objectives.
Represent own interests while being fair to others and their areas.
Partner with others to get work done.
Credit others for their contributions and accomplishments.
Gain buy-in, trust, and support of others.
Deal comfortably with the uncertainty of change.
Effectively handle risk.
Decide to act without the total picture.
Remain calm and productive, even when things are up in the air.
Deal constructively with problems that do not have clear solutions or outcomes.
Have a strong outcomes-based orientation.
Persist in accomplishing objectives despite obstacles and setbacks.
Achieve goals.
Push self and help others achieve results.
Maintain a continuous improvement mindset.
Form teams with appropriate and diverse mixes of styles, perspectives, and experience.
Establish common objectives and a shared mindset.
Create a feeling of belonging and strong team morale.
Share wins and reward team efforts.
Foster open dialogue and collaboration among the team.
Create a team that works well cross-functionally.
Learn quickly when facing new situations.
Experiment to find new solutions.
Take on challenges of unfamiliar tasks.
Extract lessons learned from failures and mistakes.
Expand knowledge base through ongoing curiosity.
Perform other related duties as assigned.
Provide guidance, coaching, and training to other employees in the department, Function, or Office.
Provide direction to project team members, including feedback on performance.
Demonstrate WGU leadership principles in all aspects of service to students, employees, and partners of WGU.